Motor vehicle



- p 5 E. HERDS MOTOR VEHICLE Filed March 1. 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 April5 1927.

E. HERDS MOTOR VEHICLE Filed March 1, 923

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Patented Apr. 1927.

PATENT oFFrcEf EDVIN HERBS, 'OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MOTOR VEHICLE:

Application assume 1, 1923. Serial n6. 622,123.-

I This invention relates to three-wheel -vehicles of the kindof whichthe single wheel is arranged at the front of thevehicle behind avertical axis about which it can be 5 deflected for steering purposes,and its ob ject' is mainly to provide means whereby this wheelarrangement can be advanta geonsly ntilizedin' fast moving vehicles.

With this object in view the invention consists essentially, in mountingthe steering wheel on the free'ends of rearward extending, resilient" orjointed members and providing means forequalizingthe flexnre of thesemembers; Thefront ends of said members being fastened at about the levelof Wheel axle to a vertically'inclinedpivot member, or otherwiseconnected tothe front of" the vehicle in front'of the wheel. Thisarrangement greatly red ices the strainon the pivoted memberallo-winglighte-r construction of the parts and 5 giving greaterflexibility, thus makingv it possible to drive the vehicle at greaterspeed; I Othernovel featiire's 'ofifthe'invention Will 5 be described inthe following description and drawings It is-to be understood that-j'thet rm fvehiclellas usedhereinafter isapplicable to any kind ofvehicle'nsinga single wheel in xfrontthereof'; be it motorcycle cy'c'lecar,

truck, tractor or team rolleirf Figure 1- is'a general perspective sideand front view of the chassis. Fignrel is I t a. t i ii an enlargedvertical- SBClZlGIl O'i? the lowerfront part of 'thechassis and'of'pivet meniberon line 1 '1 of'Figiire 1. F ignre 2' is a partperspective front-and side view showing a variation ofconstrn'ct ion'from that'in ignre 1. ,l I Figiire 3 is similar'perspective Vwith astill further variation of construction.

7 Figure 4 is apartial plan elevation of same construction as.,Fig11re3.

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view of the chassis as seen down online 55 of Figure 1. v p l Referring first to Figure "1 we have ageneral view of the chassis -who'se rear end may have any conventionaland convenient construction. The side membersl l] of the mainframe. arebent inward at'their forward ends and joined together atthe front "as at2'. At anyfplace further back, as at 3, secondary frame members 4:arefaste'ned to the main frame'membersl, 1, thereafter" rising,extending; forward and converging together, finally joining directlyvvabove or somewhat back of a perpendicular froi'n th'e joining point ofthe main frame members. Rotatably. mounted betweenthe main and secondaryframe members is a pivot element, axis or pivot member; 6111a verticalor rearward inclined position This" pivot member is of a hollowtiib'nlar' cross section allowing an axis, shaftor ro'd'l' topassthrough same so that, if the" ends of said shaft 7 are fastened to themain" frame at 2 and to the secondary frame at 5 ,1 thepi'v'o't member 6will be free to'rotate thereon. Nearer to the 'loer'pa'rt of pivotmenibfer 6' there isa'caSting-"StO providea seat oi perch for thefastening" of two lain'in'ated springs 9, one to each side of said pivotmember 'orQaXis' by clips and bo'ltsiffsnch way as to be rigidly held/toit; Extending rearward toward the back ofthecli'assis the other ends ofsaid'springs are then as; tenedin any convenient? manner to the ends ofthe axle ofwh'eel 10, as, fore'x a'ni ple; passing 'the'a'xle ends ofsaid wheel through the spring eyes. I f

It will be seen 'thatthes'e' twe springs 9 9 form in effect a'fork,whose crown end" is rigidly fastened to the pivot n iembe'r 6.Turningsaid I pivot membei? will now .raree the wheel-1O to energies-0rthe chassis and thereby displace the centre of weight a generalform of alink, fork orspring; as 12, connected flexibly to'the crown endof saidfork 11, so thatsa me isabletolniove in relation as the springs Q, 9yield but keeps have another verticallyyieldingmember in the'tensioneven on both"saidsprings'; The r Ill) vertically yielding member used inthe illustration is a laminated spring 12 fastened to a casting 13 onthe upper end of pivot member 6 thence extending rearward, as alreadymentioned, to the upper part or crown of forklike member 11 to which itis flexibly fastened.

It will now be apparent that while the wheel may yield against thespringsvertically when receiving an impact, it cannot swerve laterallyexcept by turning the pivot member (3 which however is under the controlof a steering device.

To provide a simple and effective steering means I have a crank member14- securely fastened to the upper part of pivot member 6 or made anintegral part thereof. Journaled on crank pin 15 is a screw case 16within which is a large nut into which a screw 17 can turn. Steeringshaft 18 extending forward through dash board bearing 19 insubstantially horizontal plane, or a plane in right angles to pivotmember, has a collar 20 fastened on its forward end. The collar isjournaled to supporting members 21, 22 and 23 as illustrated. Thesesupporting members are securely fastened to secondary frame members a,at. The flanges on the collar 20 prevent same from slipping back andforth on said supporting members. T he rear end of screw 17 isuniversally joined to said collar 20, the other end being partly withina nut in screw case 16, whence it will be seen that turning the steeringshaft 18 will cause the distance between supporting member 21 and crankpin 15 to shorten or lengthen, according to the turning of shaft 18, andthus cause the turning of pivot member 6 thereby effecting the steeringof the vehicle.

Referring now to Figure 2, I have a cross member 25 fastened to, or madean integral part of, the lower part of pivot member 6 in the place ofcasting 8 in Figure 1. Pivotally connected to the ends of said crossmember 25, I have a fork-shaped member 26, which consists essentially oftwo link-like members. The rear ends of these link-like members extendrearward to be connected in any convenient manner to the axle ofwheel-10.

Another fork'like member 27 fastened in any convenient way to said fork26 or to the wheel axle, rises perpendicularly towards the upper end ofpivot member 6, as in the illustration, and carries on its upper end 28a coiled spring 29, which is in tended to absorb the road shocks.

The said spring 29 is held in tension by stay member 30, which isreinforced by secondary stay members 31, 31 and together held securelyto pivot member as illustrated.

The head 28 of fork 27 can oscillate through an opening 32 on staymember accordingly as spring tension varies. It

will be seen that since fork-like member 26 yields only vertically inrelation to pivoted member 6, the steering of this combination can beeffected the same as in the first instance.

Turning now to Figures 3 and 1, the same principle of pivoting a wheelfork to the front of a vehicle chassis is seen, applied in a stilldifferent way, which may be more suitable to heavy and slow movingvehicles, such as tractors etc.

Here a substantially horizontally disposed fork member 33 is universallyconnected to the very front of the chassis. Extending rearward theprongs are respectively flexibly joined to a substantiallyverticallydisposed fork-like member 34. whose crown end has a loop 35large enough to have a little universal and turning movement on a crossmember 36. The cross member 36 is secured rigidly to the lower framemembers 1 by upright posts 37, 37.

In this case, the steering shaft 18 has its forward end journaled eitherto a frame cross member 36 and *arries on its forward end a sprocketwheel 38. Smaller free pulleys 39 and 39 secured to the other side, andto the lower ends of post 37 allow the sprocket chain, or cord, 41 topass from wheel 38 to the lower ends of fork 34. Similarly anotherchain, or cord, 42 can pass from wheel 38 and round 39, the ends of thiscord, or chain, 42 can be fastened to the crown end of fork 34. T urningthe steering shaft 18 would now cause the fork combination to move toeither side of the chassis supported by the frame cross member 36 andsliding thereon.

The holding of wheel fork by link members 43 to fork as and its springarrangement is similar to commonly known motorcycle fork arrangement inreverse order and, therefore, needs no further explanation here.

Vhile the foregoing fully explains the main principles of my invention,I wish to point out that same are merely illustrative as preferredembodiment of my invention. Variation of construction and mechanicalrefinements can be made therein by any one conversant with the art ofvehicle engineering, without however departing from the main idea of myinvention, therefore, I do not care to confine my invention to theprecise construction and arrangement of parts other than that defined bythe appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a vehicle having a single front wheel, in combination, a flexiblesubstantially horizontally disposed fork-like member securely fastenedby its crown to the front of the vehicle and thence extending rearwardlyto a wheel axle, a wheel axle, equalizing elements connected to saidforktoo - to swing said fork-like member laterally for steering andstabilizing purposes.

2, In a vehicle having a single front Wheel, in combination, a frontWheel, an upright post of the vehicle frame directly in front of saidWheel, an axle to said Wheel, a vertically yieldable member connectingeach side of the Wheel aXle to the upright post, a member connectingeach vertically yieldable member to an overhanging spring suspen sionmember, an overhanging spring suspension member and a'steering deviceconnected With said upright post and capable of turning the same.

3. In a vehicle having a single front Wheel, in combination, a flexiblesubstantially horizontally disposed fork-like member securely fastenedby its crown to the front of the ve-. hicle and thence extendingrearwardly to a Wheel axle, a Wheel axle, equalizng elements disposed atan angle to said fork-like member and connecting with asuperimposedspring member, a superimposed spring memher and steering means adaptedto shift said Wheel laterally'for steering and stabilizing V purposes.

4. In a. vehicle having a single front Wheel, in combination, asubstantially vertically dis posed pivotmember, laminated spring membersin an approximate form of a fork fastened rigidly to said pivot memberWhereby a front Wheel will be maintained behind said pivot member invertically yielding position, a front Wheel, additional means forequalizing the tension of said springs and a device for steering saidfront Wheel through the medium of said pivot member and said spring.

5. In a vehicle of the kind described, a substantially horizontallydisposed fork-like member pivoted yieldingly and vertically from asubstantially vertically disposed pivot member on front of the vehicleand in front; of the Wheel, a substantially vertically dis-v posed pivotmember on front of the vehicle and in front of the Wheel, a stay memberrigidly fastened to said pivot member, a spring member between saidpivoted forklike member and said stay member, and a steering means toturn said pivot member and shift said Wheel.

In testimony whereof I 'affix my signature.

, EDVIN HERDS.

